I got mine in three days also from Asia. Got it faster than things shipped to me from in my own state. Very fast. Shipping was only 8.00 for the 3 dvd set.

Free shipping here via registered mail.

I received a "your order has been shipped" E-mail on May 15th and the DVDs arrived on my doorstep May 23rd. So 8 days from Asia to Canada.

Frank,

I just listened to that speeder chase at chapter 6 of RotJ a few times and it's sooo hard to tell if it's matrixed or not. It's very enveloping. I can say I didn't notice any separation in the rears though that stood out to me.

Not yet, give me some time, and I'll try to get some more screenshots posted. I knew the trilogy would have the most screenshot worthy scenes of any movies I have. I took 158 ESB screenshots. Its looks like I can finally complete that set of Topps Widevision cards that came out about 7 years ago

Mine shipped on the 27th. Hopefully it'll be here next week. Can't wait for these.

Deleted off-topic reply to deleted comments. I deleted them for a reason. Drop it. - Static

Second my equipment list consists or Energy Veritas 2.3 for my fronts along with a veritas center. I use 4 veritas 2.'s as my surrounds for 6.1 surround sound. My receiver is the Denon 5802,DVD player is the Philips SACD 1000,Laserdisc player is the Pioneer Elite 79 along with a Sony Demodulator for DD. My subs are 2 SVS Ultras. My montior is the Sony Wega KV-40xbr700.

And your point about the 5 star dvds giving you a better picture than your lds is not valid point, as your dvd players HARDWARE is doing something that your laserdisc player cannot do. If you had a laserdisc player that could scale up a a laserdisc I GUARANTEE the picture would be better than that of the 5 Star DVDs. While I am not doubting YOU may get a cleaner picture on YOUR setup do to your dvd player, this isnt because ones picture quality is better than the other. It is because your dvd player is doing something your laserdisc player cannot.

As far as sound goes I compared the DD on my setup against the DD on all 3 bootlegs and they are NOT DD...meaning a HUGE lack in the LFE channel and no discrete sound info whatsoever. How did you compare the bootlegs to come to your conclusion that they are indeed DD?

Lastly my original post was directed to answer Terrell so I am glad I was able to give him accurate information. Like I said earlier these bootlegs are Great for bootlegs and I would not hesitate to recommend them especially if your only option is the VHS tapes. Audio-wise I personally would only use the stereo track and pro-logic it as they seem to be very accurate to the original source mix. As far as the "supposed" DD and DTS(LOL) well if you like them then that is your choice but that does not mean they are accurate to the source material.

I would have to agree with Ugabuga on this one. Using your dvd player to internally "scale up" the dvd version isn't a fair way of comparing them against the LD's (unless you had a LD player that could also internally scale the lds - one doesnt exist). I too have the SE Laserdiscs and the color is much better than the 5 Star DVDs. Also, the DTS and DD tracks on these 5 stars are (in my opinion) NOT discrete (granted ANH and ROTJ are matrixed very well, but they are not discrete channels). I have listed to these discs on several different setups, and still come to the same conclusion about the soundtracks.

Now, I am not saying these discs are bad (in fact they are very good, for bootlegs) - They are just not as good as the LDs. Also, there is no way ANY copy can be better than the original source. It's just common sense.

A reminder (gee, another reminder... this feels familiar): This is an open discussion forum. Meaing, anyone with an on-topic opinion is free to weigh in on any post. If a member wants to carry on a one-on-one conversation with any other member, they should do it through e-mail or instant messaging. If you post something on here, it is fair game for anyone to respond to it... if they do it in an inappropriate way (say it with me now) the moderators will take care of it.

AMEN!!!! How many times does it have to be said?

I checked the discs out tonight on my system and completely agree. And yes, I DO have the laserdiscs. BOTH sets.

Here are a few Empire shots:

Boba Fett

Luke looks pretty happy for being one frame away of getting his hand sliced off

Classic Luke/Darth Shot

Seriously, buy these now. Its worth it.

The bottom line is what the end result is on my HDTV, not what the LD player "MIGHT" be able to do with the LD's if it could scale the picture! I think it's obvious the LD's would be better given it could scale and output Component signal but it doesn't. And I suspect most DVD players will present a better picture then the LD's when played through their Component outputs as well. To try and argue the "potential" superiority of one format to another newer more advanced format makes no sense. My opinion (and many others here who have both the LD's & DVD's) is that it is indeed better then the LD's and it matters not whether the DVD format has technological advantages but simply that the end result is a better picture then the LD has. And it becomes much more evident when you get in the 50" or so range HDTV's the differences.

I'm sorry, Frank, but I must disagree. We're not comparing two official studio releases here. We're comparing an official LD release to a bootleg DVD release. Regardless of the infinite superiority the DVD format may have over LD, a copy of the film onto another format will not be perfectly preserved, much less improved, unless remastering is done. That holds true for essentially any medium. Others have done comparisons and concluded that the picture on the DVD is indeed slightly washed out in comparison to the LD, and there is noticeable color and definition loss.

My point was not to compare formats. DVD players are capable of doing things that LD cannot. DVD also has higher resolution than the LD format. However, as has been said, comparing the DVD scaled up to LD is hardly fair at all.

My original question wwas wouldn't you be better off with the official LDs, rather than bootlegs DVDs, not produced from the originals source. I also stated I had a hard time believing, assuming a fair comparison, that botleg DVDs could compare to the LDs. My comments were based on the fact that I own the THX Definitive Collection box set, as well as the 1997 THX Special Edition box set. The picture from these sets are absolutely stunning, as well as the audio. Some of the best I've ever seen and heard in the LD format. And I've seen a lot. I used to own about 110. Now I only own the two Star Wars box sets.

My comment was not to belittle these DVD sets. I may buy these sets just for comparison sakes.

One last question. Could you make a better DVD of these movies if you create your own DVDs from one of these box sets?

Thanks for the screencaps kajs.

Terrell:

It should be noted here that the video on LD is analog, and therefore a lot of factors go into how the picture will ultimately look on the screen. In your case, I'm sure you have an outstanding LD player and that contributes greatly to the image that you're able to ultimately wring out of these laserdiscs.

Those same great LD box sets played on a lower quality LD player might not look as good. (That's part of the problem with an analog format.)

If these bootleg DVDs were mastered utilizing a very good LD player then, even though there will be some degradation when transferred to DVD, they might still look better than what could be achieved playing the original LD's on a low-quality LD player.

With an analog video format there are just too many variables to consider to make blanket statements such as "The bootleg DVDs' cannot be better than the LDs". You *can* say "The bootleg DVDs cannot be better than the LD's when played on a top of the line properly maintained LD player."

I'm currently trying to decide between purchasing these bootlegs, or going the LD route. If I do go LD, I know I'll need to obtain a great player first and be sure that I have somebody near me that will be able to maintain the player. Without a great player, I'm sure it's a least potentially possible for the bootleg DVDs' to look "better", if they were mastered from a better player.

thanks for the info! sounds like we ordered from the same place. that eases my mind a bit.

ordering bootlegs is like a box of chocolates....

just hope i get them before the weekend.

Put it this way...i have a bottom line laserdisc player...and the set looks and sounds better on THAT player than on these DVD's. Don't get me wrong...they're VERY good...for bootlegs. But that's FOR BOOTLEGS. It's not FOR AN OFFICIAL RELEASE...which the laserdiscs are.

As far as Frank S's assertion that people are arguing that this set looks and sounds better on a bootleg DVD than the original laserdiscs....well...i've looked through this thread and he's the only one claiming it. If anyone can back up this claim, please do so. I'm not attacking Frank...he's entitled to his opinion. But I'd just like to know if anyone else is feeling this way as well. This is obviously a question that is important to people.

Chess,

NP. They'll arrive soon I imagine. It's hard to be patient though I know!

I actually ordered a set of these back in December of last year (the DTS banner DVDs). The place took my money, sent a shipping confirmation and I waited... and waited... and waited... By Late January, I E-mailed the place back to investigate and after about 5 unanswered E-mails, I got worried. So I checked their web site and it was gone too except for a "remodeling, on vacation" or something message... Needless to say, I never received the DVDs (which was good because otherwise I never would have gotten the Five Star Set just recently). It took me about another month to get their Credit Card Transaction Company to finally issue me a refund. I was lucky I even got a refund.

The Point is, you have to be careful who you order from and it is always comforting to know others are receiving their titles from the same source you ordered.

I’ve never seen the laser discs of these. So I can’t say one way or the other. My opinion is like the others here, that these bootlegs are great quality for what they are. They aren’t without flaw though and I agree now after watching them a couple times that the color is definitely muted from what I would think it should be. This may be part of the gamma issue though. They seem to liven up (color wise) if you drop the brightness a bit on the TV as stated before. The DVDs do remain washed out however. There is a shimmer to the discs too. Sometimes it’s much more apparent than others, especially in the opening crawl (Empire’s comes to mind). There are lots of problems I could list that won’t exist on the eventual DVD releases I’m sure (whichever versions we are graced with). I would be surprised if these issues existed on the laser discs with a good player.

Bottom line is, they look and sound so much better than the only economical alternative. VHS. It’s just too much for me to invest in a laser disc player and then hunt down the titles on laser for 3 movies. This is the only choice I’ve been left with if I want to enjoy the series now. I don’t own a VHS player and my son (who’s 7) had never seen the trilogy till now. He LOVED them BTW!

If you watch these DVDs without a critical eye, grab some popcorn, and sit back, you’ll really enjoy them. They are excellent for what they are IMO. I was shocked at the quality and expected something akin to a camed telesync VCD hehe. The problems that do exist really don’t detract from the enjoyment of the movies unless you are looking for them and really not enjoying the films anyway. I’m just tickled they are as good as they are, but they will definitely be repurchased and surpassed in quality when the eventual official DVD releases arrive.

I just had a thought and a question. I should have thought of it earlier. Could the Five Star Collection be intentionally brighter because it was mastered in Asia where IRE level is 0 for black instead of our standard 7.5? Thus when played here, they appear a tad brighter? A couple of my DVD players have an "Enhanced Black" mode which changes the IRE level to 0 instead of 7.5 and I must say these DVDs look much better at that setting; more saturated also (I just spot checked).

Monkey, I couldnt have put it any better myself.



No, actually it would be the opposite. I know this because I have the Japanese laserdisc of the Phantom Menace. Since the IRE level is 0 over there, it appears overlly dark here in the USA, because our black level is at 7.5 IRE.

Where did I say that the laserdisc format is superior to the dvd format? I would never make that statement, as dvd's are FAR more cabaple that laserdiscs. The point is that this dvd is a COPY of a laserdisc, so it is not like its your studio mastered dvd you pick up at Best Buy. I may not have a 50" HDTV (which I'm sure you get a less blocky picture on due to your dvd player scaling up the image), but even on my 32" I can notice the difference in COLOR. The laserdiscs are very vibrant, while the picture on the dvd's are extremely clean, the colors are vastly washed out in comparison. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. A copy cannot be better than the original source. Do you think if I copied a VHS tape onto a DVD that the dvd would have better quality than the source VHS because it is simply on a newer format?

Anyway, there's my 2 cents...

DOH! That's right! Thanks for the clarification Lane. I had it backwards (need more coffee, it’s still early)!

Mox,

No problem, just trying to help out I had that thought to at first regarding the black level, till I remembered the Phantom Menace laserdisc (which is at 0 IRE)...

Since the boot dvd is a dvd player (digital) format copying an analong source (laser disc) I would not expect the DVD to look exactly the same. If laser disc was digital, I would expect the copy to be the same because I thought a digital to digital transfer or copy comes out to be 100%. For example, if I burn a CD, it will sound exactly the same as the master CD because it's digital (assuming all factors remain the same, bit rate, etc.)

Ron Epstein of Home Theater Forum just received the new Philips DVD recorder, and he put it through it's paces. He says it's an incredible machine. To answer your question Dave, he and his partner in the review, tested just that. They took out some of their best LDs and recorded them to DVD using the standard play setting, which gives you DVD quality recording. He went on to say that there was absolutely no loss in signal quality from the recorded DVD to the original source LD. The review stated they were indistinguishable from one another.

So it seems, that with this machine you can record LDs, and have them come out looking and sounding exactly as the LD does.
Here are the quotes directly from Ron's article.

The recording was done with Standard Play level which records up to 120 minutes per disc. There is even one level recording higher than even the standard play. I just thought I post that to let you know the results.

Now, back to the discussion of the Star Wars DVDs.

Well, damn.

These bottleggers need to get this DVD recorder and make these boots right!

The run times for the original trilogy all go slightly over 120 minutes.
The bootleggers have access to much better equipment since they are doing dual layered discs now.

Then why dont these bootleg dvds look as good as the laser disc masters?